Conventionally, there are known game apparatuses which display a menu after start up, and when a predetermined icon is selected from the menu, access a server apparatus on the internet to allow a user to purchase and download a piece of game software and the like.
However, in the above described prior art, in order to download or purchase a desired piece of game software and the like, the user first needs to select a predetermined icon from the menu and then search for a page for purchasing or downloading the piece of game software and the like.
Thus, there is a demand for allowing the user to easily download application related data of an application, thereby improving convenience of the user.
The above objective can be attained by, for example, following configurations.
A first exemplary configuration is an information processing system including an application execution unit, an access unit, and an active application identification information obtaining unit. The application execution unit executes various applications. The access unit accesses a network service for downloading application related data of each of the various applications. The active application identification information obtaining unit obtains active application identification information representing an application being executed or being suspended by the application execution unit. The access unit performs a process in accordance with the active application identification information obtained by the active application identification information obtaining unit.
The access unit may be able to access the network service regardless of type of the application being executed or being suspended by the application execution unit.
The information processing system may include an information processing device which operates in accordance with system software. The active application identification information obtaining unit may use a function provided by the system software to obtain the active application identification information.
The information processing system may further include a page specification unit which specifies, based on the active application identification information obtained by the active application identification information obtaining unit, a page for downloading the application related data of the application represented by the identification information from the network service. The access unit may display the page specified by the page specification unit.
When the access unit accesses the network service, the access unit may obtain the active application identification information and display the page specified by the page specification unit.
The network service may provide a page group including a plurality of pages, for downloading the application related data, corresponding to the various applications, respectively, and a selection page for selecting a desired page from the page group including the plurality of pages. The access unit may be able to display the selection page, select any page from among the page group including the plurality of pages on the selection page based on a user input, and display the selected page.
When there is no application being executed or being suspended by the application execution unit when the access unit accesses the network service, the access unit may display the selection page.
The information processing system may further include an execution control unit which suspends execution of the application by the application execution unit in response to detection of a particular operation by a user, and thereafter resumes the execution of the application by the application execution unit when a predetermined condition is satisfied.
The particular operation may be an operation for displaying a menu screen which includes a command for accessing the network service. The access unit may access the network service when the access command has been issued by the user from the menu screen.
The particular operation may be an operation which is received regardless of type of the application executed by the application execution unit.
The particular operation may be an operation which is not used for the execution of the application by the application execution unit.
When the process in accordance with the active application identification information has been ended while a certain application is being executed or being suspended, the application execution unit may maintain or resume execution of the application.
The information processing system may further include a download control unit which downloads, from the network service, the application related data designated by a user based on the page specified by the page specification unit.
Even if an application is being executed by the application execution unit, the download control unit may download, from the network service, the application related data in parallel with execution of the application.
A second exemplary configuration is an information processing device including an application execution unit, an access unit, and an active application identification information obtaining unit. The application execution unit executes various applications. The access unit accesses a network service for downloading application related data of each of the various applications. The active application identification information obtaining unit obtains active application identification information representing an application being executed or being suspended by the application execution unit. The access unit performs a process in accordance with the active application identification information obtained by the active application identification information obtaining unit.
A third exemplary configuration is an information processing method performed in an information processing system. The information processing system accesses a network service for downloading application related data of each of various applications. The information processing system obtains active application identification information representing an application being executed or being suspended. The information processing system performs a process in accordance with the active application identification information having been obtained.
A fourth exemplary configuration is a storage medium having stored therein a computer program which causes a computer of an information processing system to: access a network service; and obtain active application identification information. That is, the computer accesses the network service for downloading application related data of each of various applications. The computer obtains the active application identification information representing an application being executed or being suspended. A process is performed in accordance with the active application identification information having been obtained.
The computer program may be stored in any computer-readable storage medium such as a CD, a DVD, or the like.
According to the information processing system, the information processing device, the information processing method, and the storage medium, a process is performed by the access unit in accordance with an application being executed or being suspended. Consequently, convenience of a user is improved.
These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.